Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Turkey Slaughtering Day

Well, yesterday was turkey slaughtering day at our house! We raised six turkeys through the summer and yesterday was the day for them to come to their end. My parents came up and my husband took the day off, while two of my sons helped. It's a dirty job, indeed, but in the end, we wound up with five 23-25 lb. hens, and one 29 lb. Tom! My parents, my brother, my friend, Sue, and my husband's co-worker all have an all-natural turkey for Thanksgiving. We kept the tom and one hen. I'm glad they're done and in the freezer.
It was a wonderful biology lesson for a couple of the kids, but keeping the little ones away was a task all in itself!

3 comments:

shea said...

My friends and I are planning on slaughtering a turkey for thanksgiving. Our plan is to get a turkey from an Amish farm in PA. None of us have ever done this before. Do you have any tips or suggestions for what we will need, what to look for when choosing a turkey, a process for slaughtering a turkey? any info would be helpful as we're going into this as total amateures! Thanks

Sue said...

Shea, I have not forgotten about you. I will respond as soon as my hubbie gives me more info. He has a great website, too... Check back and I'll have some good info for you! Sue

Sue said...

O.K., Shea, finally some info for you: http://www.footstepsfarm.com/chickenprocessing-intro.html This site will give you a general idea on how to slaugher chickens (which is the same as doing a turkey). What my hubbie did different is he chopped off their head and the water that he put them into to defeather them ('cause he had to do it by hand) was a lot hotter; not boiling but close. He used a turkey fryer pot. You will have to stick them in head first for about a count of 10 and then flip them over feet first for a count of then, then pluck. Make sure you have plenty of water to wash them down and keep them clean. You need to wash everything in between. We use Shakley G and H cleaners. If you have any other questions, e-mail me and I will have my dh e-mail you back. Here is my address: Theirzykfamily@msn.com